The F*cking Tube Strike maps the woes of Londoners in real time

READ NEXT

Internet eggcorns are messing up how we all communicate

ByAbigail Beall

In the work, academics asked 29 participants to complete a short period of intense cycling on an exercise bike while 52 people completed a hand grip test. Both of the tests were carried out twice, once after swearing and once without.

ADVERTISEMENT

READ NEXT

Fire and fury: the dangerous rhetoric keeping Trump in power

ByLiat Clark

He explains that during the test, people were put on an exercise bike and built up their speed. When at a certain level, a resistance (in the form of weight) was added and they were told to cycle as far as possible.

"When we got people to repeat a swear word or a neutral word while they were doing it, we showed a performance increment with swearing," the researcher said. Stephens is due to present the work at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Brighton.

Once the resistance was added there was an initial four per cent more power in the swearing attempts. Overall, Stephens says, there was an almost three per cent increment with the swearing across 30 seconds. "It's not just a chance effect; there's something really there".

ADVERTISEMENT

READ NEXT

Thousands of dialects are dying out – but now you can learn them online

The test scenario was repeated with the handgrip, where the amount of pressure imparted was measured. When swearing occurred, there was an overall eight per cent increase in strength.

ADVERTISEMENT

The purpose of the study was to determine whether swearing provoked a 'fight-or-flight' response through arousal in the body. However, Stephens says no arousal was recorded and the researchers don't know why greater power occurred.

"We've got a clear effect but no clear explanation for the effect," he explained. More work now needs to be done to work out why the body is able to produce more power.

When Stephens and fellow researchers previously looked at the effect of swearing on the body, they found expletives helped to reduce pain. In 2009, it was said volunteers who swore could endure pain for up to 50 per cent longer than those who didn't.

For now, there are some theories as to why swearing increase power but there's no evidence to back these up yet. "Maybe it is just a general disinhibition," Stephens said. "Swearing kind of makes you throw off the shackles and throw caution to the wind and be less up-tight about things, and the benefit could come from that."